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Well, I was thinking more of the lines of her being a commander, but yes, her being a girl also works

Everyone should know their commander(s).

Remember that quote that Kirito told Agil at the beginning? Where he told Asuna to join a guild when she got invited by someone she trusted?

You can chalk Asuna joining a guild like that because of his advice at the end of ep2 after Illfang died. Although this wasn't animated in the 2nd episode due to time constraints, Kirito also explains to Asuna during their first meeting how to maximize efficiency/movement and other MMO stuff. She was a bit of a noob back then (in terms of game knowledge+lingo, not skill) but it looks like she took this advice seriously.

Of course it has been a very long time since the events of ep2 occurred, but you can see how the seed Kirito planted way back when has resulted in the Asuna of today. One could even argue that if not for Kirito's advice/guidance she might have died at some point, but those "what if" questions have little relevance now.

SRS mode Asuna was cute, especially the drool scene! I imagine that is every girl's nightmare, to wake up in front of someone you are interested in with drool hanging out of your mouth and grass stuck on your face. That .gif with her waking up is #1

Despite the fact that Kirito somehow manages to meet more girls than men, it's still supposed to be a game where women are the minority.

It's a curse that comes with being a protagonist in anime I figure.

Quote:

She was already fighting on the front lines back in episode 2. On the first floor. So since the very beginning she's been in the top 1% of players. Your complaint is way too late.

I shrugged that victory off because of the fact she had Kirito, who was a beta tester, to fight with. Back then she didn't seem very interested in joining a guild either, in fact it was stated this episode that the reason she did so was because Kirito told her to in the first place.

Sorry, but I find it difficult to believe someone who's playing an MMO for the very first time ever would have the know-how and skill to reach the position she's currently in.

Sorry, but I find it difficult to believe someone who's playing an MMO for the very first time ever would have the know-how and skill to reach the position she's currently in.

You're right, to an extent. Asuna, at the time she met Kirito during events that happened before episode 2, was probably not top 1%, but top 10% due to her own tenacity.

The spoilers below pertain to episode 2 and the events of the Aria side story, so beware at your own risk.

Spoiler for LN Aria/Aria cont spoilers:

This is only mentioned in the LN but Asuna stayed in the starting city for the first week, locked up inside an INN hoping that the game was a dream or w/e.

Sometime after this first week she started soloing and saved up enough money to buy 5 rapiers.

At this point she left the starting city and started grinding like insane, and by the events of episode 2, had become one of the higher leveled players.

When Kirito first met Asuna, she only knew how to perform one attack - Linear - and she used it over and over and over again indiscriminately, to the point of exhaustion (she soon passes out near the top of the first floor's dungeon, Kirito carries her outside). At this point he mentions the boss meeting and invited her to go. The events of episode 2 happen fairly on track with what occurred in the Aria side story, although it did leave out some subplots. In episode 2, when she and Kirito were eating the bread, that whole "staying true to myself even if I die" speech she gave was about when she had cooped herself up in the Starting City but could no longer stand it and left.

One of the subplots that got reduced to a couple of lines about switch/pot rotations in the anime was about how Kirito trained* Asuna in mmo lingo/slang and taught her efficiency/how to powerlevel properly. This is hard to explain in a simple manner, but if you are curious go read the Aria/Aria continuation SS.

* I say train/taught, but it was basically similar to what happened with Klein. Kirito only partied with Asuna for 2 days in total during Aria but he imparted a lot of his knowledge on her. She is a fairly smart individual (she mentions being in the top 2% of her class grade-wise) and soaked it up pretty quickly.

It was really interesting to me to see Kirito (who views the lives of NPCs are just as precious as an actual person) and Asuna (who views NPCs as just programs that will eventually respawn if killed)

Having just read the relevant scene by the author (it's not actually in the novels but was his first attempt at an SAO doujinshi), I don't think that's exactly right.

Spoiler for ME1: The Progressers doujinshi:

It wasn't that Kirito thinks the NPCs' lives are as valuable as the players'. As I understood it, Kirito was more concerned about the psychological effects on the players of killing (even indirectly) the NPCs.

On a logical level, it's clear that Asuna had a point. Given that SAO is a full-immersion game with very, very realistic NPC AI, though (the full extent of which hasn't been shown yet), Kirito's thinking is somewhat more understandable.

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Originally Posted by GenjiChan

Another scene that caught me was in the starting after Kirito seemed to opposed Asuna's planned, she gave him a look as if she's telling him to "please Kirito, please help us... help me with this...".

Kirito: "....how can I refuse that look..."

Rather than debate the question of Asuna's expression, it's worth noting that right after that scene in ME1...

Spoiler for ME1: The Progressers doujinshi:

...Asuna challenged Kirito to a duel over their difference of opinion. And they didn't end up using Asuna's plan.

Having just read the relevant scene by the author (it's not actually in the novels but was his first attempt at an SAO doujinshi), I don't think that's exactly right.

Spoiler for ME1: The Progressers doujinshi:

It wasn't that Kirito thinks the NPCs' lives are as valuable as the players'. As I understood it, Kirito was more concerned about the psychological effects on the players of killing (even indirectly) the NPCs.

On a logical level, it's clear that Asuna had a point. Given that SAO is a full-immersion game with very, very realistic NPC AI, though (the full extent of which hasn't been shown yet), Kirito's thinking is somewhat more understandable.

Rather than debate the question of Asuna's expression, it's worh noting that right after that scene in ME1...

Spoiler for ME1: The Progressers doujinshi:

...Asuna challenged Kirito to a duel over their difference of opinion.

Rather than debate the question of Asuna's expression, it's worth noting that right after that scene in ME1...

Spoiler for ME1: The Progressers doujinshi:

...Asuna challenged Kirito to a duel over their difference of opinion. And they didn't end up using Asuna's plan.

But that didn't happen in the anime so we can't take that into consideration as far as the anime is concerned. Unless they say otherwise later on, we have to assume they followed the plan as previously discussed.

...it would kind of telegraph a certain plot point later on if they did, considering the method Kirito used in the duel.

Although that is certainly true, I always felt that

Spoiler for ME1 spoilers:

Kirito simply performed a feint attack. Basically he activated the sword skill with his other hand but right before it activated he released his grip and still performed the animation, thus giving Asuna the smart idea of parrying it first..

After all in the ME1 doujin, when she moves to parry that sword it "vanishes" suddenly and her sword whiffs in the air just above Kirito's empty left hand. That's why I think it was a feint, although he certainly could have used that skill.

If anything, I thought it was a dirty trick!

@Kazu-kun

It isn't explained in the beginning of ep5 (yay timeskip),

Spoiler for ME1 spoilers, again.:

but the events of what happened after the meeting+duel between Kirito and Asuna is what directly led to the boss being killed. Asuna stayed up late thinking about her loss to Kirito and triggered an NPC flag/event that sang her a lullaby which contained a clue that the boss could be put to sleep. She never got a chance to try her plan since the lullaby plan worked the next day after finding someone with high musical skills.

presumably the floor bosses respawn, thus the top players need to return and kill them over and over again to help out the lower level players?

no the floor bosses don't respawn, once they're gone they're gone. it's one of the other reasons why the "knight" from the second episode wanted to get the last shot on the kobold boss and get the special last hit item.

but the events of what happened after the meeting+duel between Kirito and Asuna is what directly led to the boss being killed. Asuna stayed up late thinking about her loss to Kirito and triggered an NPC flag/event that sang her a lullaby which contained a clue that the boss could be put to sleep. She never got a chance to try her plan since the lullaby plan worked the next day after finding someone with high musical skills.

It's not timeskip, it just didn't happen. It would be different if they at least hint that all that did happen, and maybe they will later on, but for now we can't count on that.

It's not timeskip, it just didn't happen. It would be different if they at least hint that all that did happen, and maybe they will later on, but for now we can't count on that.

LN events are still canon, even if they aren't animated. The events that happened during the meeting were not fully shown in the anime due to time constraints, so the only thing we have to go on is what happened during ME1. The boss strategy meeting was copied straight from ME1, after all.

Spoiler for ME1+ep5 speculation:

Most likely they just didn't want to give any hints/speculation about "future stuff" that happens later. That duel during the meeting dropped a huge hint and it is understandable the animators didn't want to show it this early.